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Slave Mines of Ulaang Map Pack!
🕑 Added 2023-01-16 20:37:07 +0000 UTCThe download URL for the map files can be found in a following "Tier Rewards" post specific to your tier, or on the Pinned post on the front page of the Patreon.
Welcome to the Slave Mines of Ulaang, the Patron Voted map from December.
I had a lot of fun putting this one together, and I think there are a ton of potential uses for it from a campaign origin location to a escape or rescue missions to linking it to additional maps for the discovery of artifacts or all kinds of narratives.
Intro Story
The wagon lurched as it traversed the stony ground, gravel crunching beneath a cargo laden with an equal measure of humanity, greed and profit.
Prisoners bound with cruelly tight rope sat on crude benches, wooden bars curling overhead to deter any thoughts of escape. There were ten of them left. Four had died after the last village and twice that across the entire journey from its origin in Orth. As they neared the rising cliffs ahead, several of the prisoners lifted their heads.
Cool shade fell over them as they entered the pass, as welcome a gift as they were to receive on this arduous journey. Other prisoners stirred now, craning their necks to try and see past the driver toward a pair of rising stone towers and a formidable iron gate.
"Who goes?", shouted a voice from atop one of the towers flanking the pass ahead.
The driver lifted the brim of his hat, squinting an eye up toward the tower as he called back, "It's Duran, you lout - open up. I've twelve fresh hands for ya, an' I'm ready to be out of this miserable sun you keep fixed in the sky."
A shout called up from behind the wall and the massive iron gate shuddered to life, groaning as it yawned open like a fearsome, stony beast. The wagon rolled forward, pausing for a moment at the second, wooden gate, as the shouts of men could be heard beyond. Finally, the sound of heavy chains moving signaled the greeting each prisoner had feared since their capture.
The wooden gates split and shards of sunlight pierced the blanket of shade, causing several of the prisoners to shield their eyes as the wagon lurched forward. The light intensified, making it difficult to see as the wagon emerged from the jaws of the guardhouse.
When their eyes adjusted, a few startled gasps sounded from the prisoners as the dusty steps of a massive strip mine descended before them. Over a hundred slaves moved about the various ramps and walkways, picks slung over their bent shoulders and tattered clothes clinging to their sun-darkened forms.
In the distance, a whip cracked and a pained cry sounded as a nearby miner was shoved roughly to the ground by a burly guard.
Turning around in his perch, the slaver, Duran, tipped his hat toward the motley crew of prisoners and grinned, "Welcome home."
Description
This expansive battle map contains the exterior and interior of a large strip mining operation, sprinkled with a few active mines and caves created along the way. It contains a prisoner camp in the center of the lower section and several buildings belonging to the slavers perched along the periphery of the canyon.
Shaggy beasts drawing carts laden with coal, shattered rock and other ore roll by as it moves to be further processed, packaged and, eventually, transported to various destinations.
A few ways to use this map:
1. The campaign begins! Beginning as prisoners is a tried and true origin for a campaign, and this would provide a huge space for that, allowing character to spend a few days planning their escape, learning of one another and determining the best course.
2. The party is captured! Sometimes, the only thing between the party and certain death is the belief they're worth more alive than dead, especially if they're sent alive to the mines of Ulaang, where they can spend the rest of their troublesome days busting rock.
3. An artifact has been found! Though attempts to quiet its discovery were made, rumors of a powerful artifact being found in the mines has spread to people willing to hire a party of adventurers to make their way and steal it.
4. It's rescue time. Perhaps one of the party members, perhaps an important political figure or just the guy that has been to a certain dungeon before -- somebody was captured and now works as a slave in the mines. Time to bust 'em out.
I also included a pretty detailed write up on this one that should hopefully give you some ideas for how to proceed! [Art is from Midjourney.]
Hope you enjoy it!
